


Saddling Up

by mothermachinegun



Series: Fratstuck [15]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 07:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mothermachinegun/pseuds/mothermachinegun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You look like you’re gonna puke, Rufioh.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saddling Up

“I don’t eat fish…”

“Oh, come on, they have vegetarian food. It’s just rice and seaweed- it’s good for you! Help you build strong muscles!” You flex ridiculously and Horuss gives you a half-hearted little shove and a roll of his eyes.

“If it’s as good as you say it is- and they have vegetarian options…”

“Bangarang!”

And that was how you convinced Horuss to try sushi.

You were going to be honest with yourself, the only reason that you’d even tried sushi in the first place was because of anime club in highschool. For the end of the year trip everybody had pitched in some cash and went out to a sushi bar and you’d fallen in love instantly, plus, you’d been such a weaboo back then that you probably would have loved it even if you didn’t actually like it. You were supposed to like sushi, it was what Japanese people ate, and you weren’t really into anime if you didn’t like sushi.

It was also a reason to take Horuss out on a date with you. After your sexcapade in the darkness of his bedroom, you want to take it the rest of the way the right way, especially if he’s as interested as you are. And you think that he might be.

You love your car. It’s a tan Ford Taurus, and you cleaned it out just before the date because if Horuss got into your car as-was then you’d die of embarrassment. It’s less nice than his car- a cobalt-blue Subaru Forester of relatively new make.

When you pick him up at the frat house at 6:30 on Friday, you feel quite akin to a nervous highschooler once more, picking up a prom date or something as equally a big deal. This is your first date with a guy, your first real one, and you can’t help but feel yourself quaking in your shoes just a little bit.

“You look like you’re gonna puke, Rufioh.” Is the first thing you hear upon opening the front door, and you find that it’s Mituna, Kurloz, Cronus, Kankri, and Jake all crowded around the kitchen table with Solo cups and a game of Operation.

“Nah, I’m good.” You wave a hand carelessly. “So what are you guys even doing?”

“Operation: Drinking Game.” Jake has what’s either a grin plastered on his face or a plastered grin on his face, you’re not sure which. It’s early in the day but it IS Friday, and it’s never too early to start drinking at Alpha Tau Alpha. “I’m losing.”

“You’re losing hard, dude.” Mituna snorts. “Don’t fuck it up, Cro, don’t fuck it up!”

“I’m seriously going to punch you in the mouth if you don’t shut-” Bzzzzzzt. “FUCK.”

“You going to join us?” Jake asks you, leaning back. “Or do you have plans?”

“Nah, I’ve got a date.”

Mituna scrambles a bit. “WITH HORUSSSSS-?”

You just laugh and retreat deeper into the frat house, leaving them to their shenanigans to start hunting for Horuss. His door’s shut, but the light’s on and you think he might be in there. You knock. “Horuss? It’s me, you ready to go?”

Grinning, you hear him swear and bustle around a minute before opening the door. Then your jaw drops, because he look really nice, his hair’s done up into a high ponytail and he seems to have straightened his bangs. “Oh- wow, you look cute.”

“Stop,” He prods you in the side before ducking back into his room to pull on his jacket, which is a quite dashing black peacoat, different from the brown jacket he usually wears. He turns the lights off, brushing past you. “Let’s go, hurry up, I don’t want to hear it from the peanut gallery.”

You let him drag you by the hand back out through the house and out through the kitchen and of course the first thing you hear is Mituna going, “OH SHIT WHAT’D I SAY, WHAT’D I SAY?” and Cronus and Jake laughing uproariously.

“Get some.” Cronus makes a gross hand gesture at you as you walk by. “Get it get it get it get it!”

“Oh shut up!” Horuss barks at them, then flips his hair over his shoulder and struts you both right on by them.

You wave sheepishly. “Bye guys!”

—-

“What,” Horuss asks, staring blankly down at the little paper menu with slightly narrowed eyes. “Is nattō?”

“I can almost promise you that you won’t like it.” You urge him, casually ticking off your order with the provided pen. You like fish a lot, so you prefer to order a salmon roll, a tuna roll, and eel sashimi with sticky rice. The usual.

Horuss looks politely lost. “But what is it?”

“Fermented soy beans. It’s like- really glutinous and sticky and it’s- not good. It’s really strong.”

“…oh, ew…”

“See anything that looks good?”

“Um- yes, I think so actually. Agedashi tofu? It’s crispy fried? Looks good. I like tofu.”

“You’re so weird.”

Horuss beams and nods. “Sure I am. But so are you, Mr. Japanophile.”

“I can tell no lies,” You sigh.

“So- um, when I fill this out, I just put… however many I want in the little box? So if I put one, then I’m just gonna get one piece? It seems so awfully expensive…”

“Uh- no, hang on,” You lean over him somewhat to peer down at his sheet. “Nah, see, these, they come as six. You’re ordering one order, so you’re gonna wanna just put one. These come in twos, so if you put one, you’re getting one set of two. That’s all, it ain’t hard.”

After another moment, he gasps. “What is toro and why is it ten dollars?”

“Oh man,” You lean your head back, mouth practically watering at the very thought. “It’s the most expensive and like, luxuriously best fattiest part of the tuna. It’s so good. I’ve only had it once.”

Horuss tsks, leaning back in his chair somewhat and tightening his ponytail a little bit. “I can’t imagine it’s worth it.”

“You have no idea. It’s incredible. C’est magnifique.”

By the time the two of you forfeit your order slips, Horuss is stirring sugar into his tea with his eyes focused elsewhere. You stare at him.

“…so can we talk about something?” He abruptly asks you, tilting his head back as he abruptly meets your eyes. “About us?”

Your heart sinks. “…sure.”

“I’ve been getting-” Horuss frowns, looking down. “-a lot of pressure, from the other guys. About our… um.”

“Sex life?” You supply him, “I’ve been hearing the same crap.”

“Exactly,” He winces, “And I just-”

“Don’t know what to tell them because that’s our personal stuff and-”

“And they don’t need to know it, exactly-”

“And we keep getting those letters.”

“I know.”

Horuss sighs. You reach across the table and touch his hand with a little smile. “Look, it’s okay. We don’t have to tell anybody anything. It’s not like there’s some higher power making it all visible to the public.”

“God, can you imagine?”

“No, no thanks.” You let go of his hand, and he smiles weakly at you from across the table, propping his elbow up on the table. You’re still smiling back at him. He really does have the prettiest face, such elegantly high cheekbones and sculpted lips, which he chews on.

“What?”

“Ah, nothing, just… looking.”

“At what, me?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, god, stop-”

You laugh. “But why?”

“Because- I’m embarrassed.”

“Fair enough.”

How long, you wonder, are you going to have to wait before you can call him your boyfriend? You can’t help your impatience, it’s a nagging thing at the back of your head that you can’t do much for. It worries you because you don’t know him that well, and you just have to wonder- does he even date? No, he’d have to. He’s on date with you, is he not?

Seventh-grade self-esteem issues weigh heavily down on you at that moment, and you frown to yourself.

Sighing somewhat, you turn the topic away from the pair of you. You ask him about his robots- him and Dirk are working on their second stage of their now-retired fighting robot.

“Dirk named this one,” Horuss explains, “It’s called HAL.”

“Like from Space Odyssey?”

“Yeah. It stands for Humiliate, Annihilate, Lacerate. Barbaric if you ask me, but it’s Dirk’s brainchild.”

“You know, Kankri said the same thing about you guys’ robots. I think they’re pretty awesome.”

And then you let him go on and on and on about the thing, about the specs and its weapons and the customizable aspects of it and good lord you could just watch his eyes the whole time, how dreamy they get and how just absolutely into it he is.

About then, your food arrives, which you waste no time in tearing into.

“Okay,” Horuss breaks apart his chopsticks, “What on earth is that?”

“Um. It’s wasabi paste. Uh- you, do you like spicy stuff?”

“Sure.”

“Put a little bit on one of your rolls, that’s what it’s for.” You explain, carefully pouring a measured amount of soy sauce into the little rectangular cup-plate-thinger that they gave you. You know there’s a word for it but you can’t remember. “Just be caref- that’s probably too much.”

“Rufioh,” The look he gives you is measured and a little stern, “I’m sure I can be the judge of that.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You shrug your shoulders and start eating, not even looking up but from the way he falls oddly silent immediately afterward makes you grin. After a long moment you glance up, and he look absolutely stricken, and you cover your mouth to stifle laughter as he flails around for a second and then drains ¾ of his tea in one go. “…told you.”

“Hhhhaaaa-” He whines, sticking his tongue out. Tears are in his eyes, his face somewhat red. “Okay yes I stand corrected thank you-”

“Did you know that drinking a non-dairy liquid right after eating spicy food will just make it burn your throat faster?” You chirp, “Eat rice. It’ll help.”

Horuss recovers himself a couple moments later much to your amusement. And he actually looks a little pissed, which just makes you grin. There’s something very sexy in the way his eyes flash like that.

“I tried warning you, I really did.” You offer by way of apology, “Sorry.”

“No no, it’s… quite all right, it was foolish of me to attempt such an undertaking without understanding the consequences.” Horuss pants, tugging at the collar of his shirt. “I’m sweaty…”

“I have that effect on people.”

“Rufioh!”

Chopsticks tucked into one hand, you reach over with the other one and take his hand in yours, lacing your fingers together for a moment. He blushes. “I’m kidding. No need to be so flustered, it’s all good.”

He smiles weakly. “Yes, I know. But. You do have that effect on me.”

Your turn to blush. “Oh.”

“I think, maybe, that you’re not used to that?” Horuss asks, picking up his chopsticks again and picking up a piece of fried tofu.

“No. Not really. People didn’t take kindly to the weaboo goth kid where I’m from.”

“I was like that when I came to the city. I was raised on a farm.”

“You were not.”

“Hand to God.” Horuss puts one hand up for a moment, nodding sagely. “I was raised on a horse farm. My family has several. My little brother Equius does 4H and hand-raises a cow every year. I’m a regular hillbilly. You’ve seen the pictures in my room, haven’t you?”

“Of course, yeah. Makes sense, I just thought you maybe- stabled them someplace.”

“Gosh no.”

“There’s a lot I don’t know about you. I’m troubled by that. It’s like, every time I think I’m starting to get who you are another hobby of yours just springs out of nowhere.”

“So have I ever told you that I liked archery? Or poetry?”

He amazes you. How can a person do so much with their lives at any given time? You stare in mild awe as he steals the soy sauce. “And let me guess, you’re also a registered EMT or a Magical Girl?”

“Both.”

When the date winds down you find yourself feeling awfully flustered. And you can’t quite pick out why. On the drive home you let him talk at you without interruption, he talks about his brother, his horse at home, everything that you ask him about because you genuinely want to know. It fascinates you.

He fascinates you. But in a good way. You park your car in the cul-de-sac and walk him to the door, it’s cold and he stays close to your side.

“So, um-” He turns somewhat on the steps, looking anxious for the first time. You can hear music thudding in the frat house- the drinking has probably escalated quite a bit and you’re sure everybody’s involved.

“Yes?”

“…I had a really good time.” He smiles, shyly. You do the same.

There’s a moment of silence that’s broken by what you’re pretty sure is Mituna’s voice going, “TURNT UUPPPPP!” and then something breaking.

_“Hey fuckdick you wanna turn that shizzat dizzown?”_

_“Cronus stop-”_

You stand in front of him and take his hands, he lets you, and, drawing somewhat closer, squeezes yours in return. “I did too. Can we do it again sometime?”

“Absolutely, I-” He pauses, breath rising in clouds about his face. “…Rufioh I have to ask you something.”

“Anything.” Your heart’s in your throat suddenly.

“…would you, um-” He falters, “…would you like to… go steady? I know that’s a bit antiquated but… after what we’ve shared, and… I really like you.”

All of your breath comes out in one happy sigh. “Bangarang! Would I,” You grin, so hard it hurts. “That would be… just great. Just- awesome.”

“Great! I… yes, excellent, good,” Horuss laughs, embarrassed. You stare at him for a moment, and he stares back, and you watch the gust of wind that ruffles his hair beautifully, ponytail swaying for a moment. You melt into your combat boots and reach up to kiss him, which he returns happily, leaning down for you. You wish he weren’t so tall.

“…so, um-” He looks over his shoulder at the house. Somebody’s playing Janet Jackson and you can smell weed. “…I don’t know if you wanted to join them but-” He clears his throat, “I might just go to my room and try and avoid them… do you want to come with me?”

He’s precious, the way that he blushes like that. You grin, and offering your arm to him, which he takes, open Alpha Tau Alpha’s front door amid a cry of, “ _DA-DA-NA-NAAA! WEED MAN!_ ” and step inside, bracing yourself for whatever fresh hell you’re about to catch.


End file.
